Hero In My Dreams
by C.A. Hulapi
Summary: When Peter Johnson's legs become paralyzed in an accident and he's confined to a hospital, he begins to weave a story of the person of his sister's tales. He may be trapped in a wheelchair, but in his games, he's not crippled Peter, but Percy Jackson, the demigod hero. (AU/Alternate Universe story)


Peter Johnson was a normal, happy second grader. Nobody really likes normal, happy stories, though, so something had to happen- nobody is ever allowed a happy-ever-after.

It was just him and his big sister Sally, driving on the highway. There was a rainstorm raging on outside, but Sally was telling him stories to keep him occupied. The one she'd taken to lately was that of Percy Jackson, the greatest demigod hero ever, and Peter loved it too, because Percy was just like him- he lived in New York, loved blue, and even had dyslexia and ADHD, too!

Sally was getting to a good part in the story, too, where Percy was battling Mrs. Dodds, the evil teacher-turned-gorgon. "And she reared back her head in a screeching yell as she charged, but Percy was ready. He pulled from his pocket his trusty sword and lunged, roaring, towards the beast-"

The road was slick and the air thick with rain, and he didn't see until the last second, a bright yellow sign with an arrow, lighting up with the headlights' glare-

"SALLY! SALLY, WATCH OUT!" he screamed, screeched even, but it was too late to do anything- the turn was sharp and quick, and suddenly he was thrown, screaming, into the hard wall of the car as the road suddenly wasn't there, and they were airborne, and why was there no road? And then, he felt Sally against him, and he couldn't see anymore (not that could see much before anyway), but why hadn't they-

Suddenly, impact. The rough wood of bark bit into his arm, and he cried out, it hurt so bad! He felt his brain losing cohesion- it hurt, it hurt- and where was Sally? Where was his sister?

He began to cry. He didn't stop crying, even as he heard sirens screeching in the night, even as rough hands picked him up, even as he yelled for his sister, because he wanted to hear a story, he wanted to hear that it'd be okay, because it was okay, right? Sally was always there- where was she, where where where- And he didn't stop crying until he went out cold in the back of an ambulance, and even then, he had dreams of lost things and the rain that washed everything he found away.

* * *

The doctor told him he had leg paralysis, whatever that was. All he knew was that it meant he couldn't use his legs. And just like that, Peter was confined to a wheelchair.

Oh, he hated it. His sister had come in and painted it with beautiful waves of blue and green, but it was still a symbol that his legs were numb, that he couldn't walk anymore, that he couldn't leave the hospital. He was confused about that one, because there was a kid in the Special Needs program with leg paralysis too, why couldn't he do that? And he was told it was because of something that basically got down to that if he left the hospital and all the medicine he was on, it could hurt him or something like that. He didn't care.

He was glad his sister was okay. He was really sad too, though, because although she wasn't hurt outside, it wasn't as lucky on her inside. His sister had gotten sick with something in her head, am-need-see-ya or whatever. But it meant that all she knew about was him- she couldn't remember anyone else, not even her boyfriend Gabriel (why she dated the jerk, he had no clue). In fact, she thought that his name was Percy- not that he minded. She still remembered her little brother, and that was enough for him.

* * *

He looked, amazed, as a curly-haired boy his age in crutches limped in through the doorway and gave an awkward wave. Peter waved back.

He was astonished. The boy only had one hand! The other was a metal machine, barely human at all, starting around his elbow. It was really cool, like in those sci-fi movies he'd seen on the hospital's cable, and he told the boy as such. He laughed. He introduced himself to be Grover, and he said that he'd lost his hand to some infection that he claimed even his dad couldn't pronounce, and that his crutches were because his left leg was paralyzed, at which Peter had exclaimed in excitement that he was like that, too.

Peter hesitated when Grover asked his name, stood still for a long second before he said anything. This was a decision- he couldn't very well be the same Peter Johnson he once was, couldn't ever be the same boy, really. He took a deep breath, long and slow, then he replied. It was scary to let go, but what was the point of holding on?

"Percy. Percy Jackson."

And just like that, Peter let any remaining strands of normality slide away.

* * *

About three months after Grover came to share his room, Percy started telling stories to Grover about Percy Jackson the son of Poseidon, just like his sister had told him. But he made room for Grover, who loved the role of the witty satyr sidekick. And just like that, they were a monster fighting team, and the hospital a demigod camp.

The fat old male nurse with a drinking problem that had a British accent? The God of wine and camp director. The nice old man in the wheelchair down the hall who gave them little hard candies? Chiron, centaur in disguise and trainer of heroes. His sister? An overbearing mother who worked at a sweet shop that Percy used to love visiting.

Eventually, everyone took to the name change- everyone except the nurse, who insisted still his name was Peter, which was put in the story too. Suddenly everything was a game, and his sister played too, and Mr. D the grumpy nurse became Dionysus. But he wasn't very eager to play, so Dionysus was grumpy. He always called Percy Peter too.

One day, Mr. D found Percy and Grover playing in their room. Grover and Percy had just started running from Medusa in her garden. Of course, Sally had come up with the idea that Medusa sold those she turned to stone, so the garden was actually the warehouse behind her store, but Mr. D didn't know that.

"What are you doing?"

They paused, looking up at him, stopping any movement. Percy muttered very quietly in reply, "Um, playing."

The man growled and rolled his eyes. "Playing? Playing what?"

Grover spoke up timidly this time. "Um, we're running from Medusa right now, Mr. D. She's chasing after us, trying to change us to stone."

The man had taken a moment to stare at them, then he began to roar in mocking laughter. "Running? Did you say that you were _running_?!"

Percy coughed a little, rubbed his arm. What was so funny that Mr. D would laugh, let alone this much? "Yeah..."

The man roared in his amusement for a few minutes more, then managed to settle himself down to a few chortles. "What in blazes are you thinking, boys? You can't bloody _run_! You're a boy in a wheelchair and one in crutches! You'll never be able to _run_! You'll never be able to even crawl!"

Chuckling, the man slowly waltzed out of the room, face purple in the stress of laughing so hard when he hardly laughed at all, muttering something about stupid children and running.

The two boys had just glanced at each other in confusion, and maybe a bit of pain- pain knowing he was right, that they could never leave the hospital room they were trapped inside.

There hadn't been any stories about running for a little while after that.

* * *

**Word count before A/N: 1332 words.**

**Hello everyone! This is an AU (as you could probably already tell), and this is a gnat that's been flying around my head so badly it began to hurt, so I finally did it, so here it is.**

**And yes, I have hereby decided that Mr. D A) is a total asshole, and B) has a totally fake British accent.**

**Annabeth will be appearing soon, and I'm really excited to write about her, because she'll really begin some nice conflict that actually has a bit more substance than a douchebag moment for Mr. D.**

**Also, see what I did there with how Mr. D jacked up Percy's name?**

**Ciao!**


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